Tuesday, July 07, 2015

What is Andrew Roe reading?

I’m going through one of those fickle phases where I’m reading more than one book, bouncing back and forth, simultaneously enjoying the variety and freedom while also feeling a little weird and unfaithful, like I can’t fully commit.

So here’s some of what’s currently on my reading rotation: Jonathan Evison’s This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance!, which will be published in September by my publisher Algonquin Books and chronicles the life of the 79-year-old title character, who re-evaluates her life in the wake of her husband’s death (I wasn’t planning on reading this one yet, but I picked it up this past weekend and couldn’t stop); Sean Wilentz’s Bob Dylan in America, which puts a historical and cultural lens on Dylan and his work, focusing on key points in his decades-long career; and...[read on]

The crowds keep coming. More and more every day it seems . . . drawn by rumor and whisper and desperate wish. Somehow they heard about the little girl on Shaker Street.

They come to see eight-year-old Anabelle Vincent, who lies in a comalike state—unable to move or speak. They come because a visitor experienced what seemed like a miracle and believed it was because of Anabelle. Word spread. There were more visitors. More miracles. But is there a connection? And does it matter?

Set against the backdrop of the approaching millennium—with all its buzz about reckoning and doom–this impressive debut novel is narrated by Anabelle herself; by her devoted mother, who cares for her child while struggling to make sense of the media frenzy surrounding her; by Anabelle’s estranged father, who is dealing with the guilt of his actions; and by the people who come seeking the child’s help, her guidance, and her healing. Yet it tells a larger cultural story about the human yearning for the miraculous to be true, about how becoming a believer—in something, anything, even if you don’t understand it—can sustain you.